Mac App Store opens on January 6

Get ready for one-click software buying on Mac OS X—the Mac App Store will be …

Apple announced on Thursday that its Mac App Store will open in three weeks, on Thursday, January 6. The Mac App Store is designed to offer Mac OS X users a simplified purchase, download, and installation experience similar to that of the App Store for iOS.

"The App Store revolutionized mobile apps," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement. "We hope to do the same for PC apps with the Mac App Store by making finding and buying PC apps easy and fun."

Apple first announced the Mac App Store in October, during a special media event that previewed the next version of Mac OS X, codenamed Lion. Like the iOS App Store, developers can upload apps for distribution, with Apple handling the technical details of storage, servers, bandwidth, and payment processing. Developers also get the same 70/30 split of revenue. Users then get a single location—an application that will be included with Lion but available to Snow Leopard users in January—to find and purchase Mac OS X software, along with an automated install and update process.

Developers have mixed feelings about the Mac App Store. While some welcome the increased exposure and simplified distribution process, others are concerned that Apple's share of the revenue is too high, or that Apple's restrictions make it difficult for many of today's popular apps to be approved. Still others worry that the Mac App Store will become so popular that users never look outside of it for software. Bundles, discounted upgrades, and other common marketing tools could disappear.

Despite the concerns, developers have high hopes that the Mac App Store will prove to be an overall positive for the Mac OS X platform. "For all its flaws, the Mac App Store is a step in the right direction," developer Jonathan Rentzsch told Ars.